9 eye-opening branding facts you need to know

When it comes to great design, there’s a plethora of branding facts out there. A huge quagmire of information to wade through, and help you make the right branding and design choices for your business.

So, where do you begin?

Luckily, we’ve done the grunt work for you. Here’s our nine favourite knowledge nuggets to inform your design.

1. Branding in seventh heaven

Turns out, three isn’t the magic number. It’s actually seven. It takes your average client a grand total of seven exposures to your brand before they remember it.

So how do you gain seven exposures? Put your website out there and hope that your prospects return a further six times?

Let’s face it. That’s more commitment than most of us have to anything. Except Grey’s Anatomy, obviously, where we’re still fully invested after 19 seasons.

By ensuring your brand is visible and consistent across your online presence (including your social media) and your tactile products, your prospects gain more exposure. Which makes your business memorable – and at the front of your clients’ recall.

2. Emotionally connected customers stick around for the ride

According to Motista, creating an emotional connection with your customers means they stick with your brand for longer.(1) In fact, they’ll stick around for 5.1 years – compared to the 3.4 years of clients without that emotional connection.

Here’s where great branding can really help. By connecting with your clients at an emotional rather than pragmatic level, you can elongate your relationships by a whopping 50%. We reckon that’s an investment worth making.

3. It takes (significantly) less than a second to make a first impression

We all know the importance of first impressions when we meet people. We spend time picking out the shoes, the watch, and styling our freshly-chopped hair. But when it comes to branding, we often neglect the process of “getting ready”.

And that’s a big mistake. Because it turns out, people judge websites in half the time that they judge a person. Just 0.05 milliseconds, in fact.(2)

And as this is one of our favourite branding facts, we’re always keen to help our clients make that first impression count in their design.

4. Great branding creates loyalty in 85% of customers

At Visualise, we’re big fans of great branding. And with good reason. Research suggests that, if you can convince your customers that your branding and logo are awesome, they’ll remain loyal to your business an astonishing 85% of the time.(3)

Are your customers loyal to your brand? Or, like a kid in a candy shop, do they enjoy a pick ‘n’ mix across your industry?

5. Branding consistency offers sales rewards of up to 23%

According to Forbes, branding consistency pays off beyond simply making your brand more memorable.(4) If you’re able to keep your branding consistent across platforms, this can translate to a whopping 23% increase in your sales.

Of course, there’s currently more platforms than you’ll find in the Spice Girls’ wardrobe. That’s why a great branding strategy with a range of usable resources is key. So whichever platform you’re on, your brand looks dazzling.

6. People recognise big brands by their colour – up to 91% of the time

In a study where participants were shown only the colours of big brands’ logos, people recognised major brands up to a humongous 91% of the time (that was Google’s branding, by the way).(5)

We’re not suggesting that you’re looking to compete with commercial giants like those included in this study (one step at a time, hey?).

But, there’s still a valuable lesson to be learned. Choosing the right colours for your branding can evoke emotion, increase memorability and help create a great first impression.

7. Emotional connection increases recommendations

Motista’s study on emotional connection offers even more insight on its value.1 We all know how hard it is to make connections with new prospects. But if your branding can connect to your clients on an emotional level, they’ll do a lot of the leg work for you.

Turns out, emotionally connected clients are almost four times as likely to recommend your business to others (30.2% rather than 7.6%). So as much as we love leg day at the gym, we’d prefer to build those branding relationships that last – and your clients want to talk about.

8. 90% of top brands only use up to two colours in their logo

When it comes to good design, less can be more. According to a study, 90% of the top 100 brands use just 1 or 2 colours in their logo.(6)

When it comes to getting the right branding for your business, it pays to take the time and advice of experts in designing branding that’s really going to deliver. A small investment to refine your concepts and create a brand identity can pay dividends.

9. Over 60% of top brands use a combination of text and images in their logo

A great logo is memorable, identifiable and conveys who you are. So do you go for your brand name or an image?

Want to know a top branding fact? You do both.

In a study that looked at the Fortune 500 logos, 60% contained a combination of text and images.(7) A simple, pictorial icon logo was the least popular at just one of the 500 logos.

So when it comes to effective branding, that careful balance of imagery and text is key in creating a design that sticks.

And those are our top 9 eye-opening branding facts!

Logo design, colour psychology, emotional connection, all in 0.05 seconds. It seems a lot to ask, doesn’t it?

Luckily, there are teams out there who are experts of design, who absorb these fascinating branding facts like a sponge.

Just like the lovely folk here at Visualise. We chat colour psychology over coffee and casually sketch logo designs on the back of our beer coasters on a Friday night.

And we’re on hand to help you get more from your branding and marketing. With our help, your design can stand out in a crowded, complicated market place – and deliver the sales you need.

Get in touch to find out how we can help. We’ll even tell you the UK’s favourite colour, if you’re interested.

Here's where the stats came from

1. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6273e357746bf970e1d4f2c9/t/62f718e0494abd7a0776c4ec/1660360929034/Leveraging+Emotional+Connection+for+Retailers_0.pdf
2. https://cxl.com/blog/first-impressions-matter-the-importance-of-great-visual-design/
3. https://studyfinds.org/brand-awareness-survey-ranks-top-30-most-recognizable-logos-in-the-u-s/
4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/gabrielshaoolian/2018/08/10/10-marketing-web-design-branding-statistics-to-help-you-prioritize-business-growth-initiatives/?sh=5c6a675dd708
5. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/06/09/blue-favourite-colour-yougov-survey_n_7541520.html
6. https://blog.marketo.com/2018/05/brand-colors-can-reveal-business.html
7. https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/logo-design-stats/